Chapter 3

An hour later, Dotty was in the kitchen after clearing the table when Amanda rushed in the back door. "Amanda, where have you been?" she demanded.

"Oh, Mother, I'm so awfully sorry! I was at the mall and there was a big ruckus—"

"The mall? What were you doing at the mall? I thought you had an emergency at work. Didn't you say they couldn't find some reel of film?"

"Ah, well, yes, we found it. But then I remembered I wanted to pick up something for my hairdresser, and I went to the downtown DC mall. And there was a terrible disturbance, some crazy man, people were running all over the place. And then I got locked in a room."

As Amanda continued to ramble, Dotty's eyebrows knitted together as she gawked at Amanda's feet. "Dear, why are you wearing elf shoes?"

When Amanda peered down, she saw she'd forgotten to change her shoes. "There is a good explanation for this, Mother."

"I'm waiting to hear it, Amanda." Dotty crossed her arms.

Amanda bit her lip while trying to think fast, and that's when Jamie saw her from the other room.

"Mom, you're home!" He ran into her arms, hugging his mother, followed by Philip. "We were afraid you would miss Christmas. Can we open some presents?" begged Philip.

"Of course not! You have to wait till Christmas morning since Santa hasn't come."

"Awww, Mom," Jamie complained.

"But there are presents under the tree with our names on them," Philip chimed in.

Amanda ruffled their hair and said, "Those are from Aunt Lillian, Uncle Herman, Grandma, and myself. You have to wait till tomorrow. You can go take a peek but then it's off to bed!"

As Amanda followed her sons to the living room, Dotty stood there amazed. She couldn't believe her daughter never answered her question.

Christmas morning, everyone got up early to eat Amanda's Christmas waffles. The boys quickly ate because they could hardly contain their excitement. When it was time to open the presents, the boys tore through the packages at record speed.

Amanda found a present she didn't recognize and figured her mother had put it there to surprise her. She opened the box and found a new pair of tennis shoes like the ones she lost the day before.

"Mother, are these from you? It doesn't say on the tag who they're from."

"No, I've never seen them before. Those look like the shoes you wore yesterday?"

"Yes, but they're new." Amanda shook her head with a blank stare on her face.

Jamie and Philip also received presents that Dotty and Amanda had no idea where they'd come from. One was a football for Jamie, and the other was a hockey stick for Philip.

"Wow, I've been wanting to learn how to play hockey! Thanks, Mom!"

Amanda and Dotty looked at each other in disbelief, knowing neither had bought it.

"Hey, Grandma. Here's one for you, but it doesn't say who it's from. Just like the others." Jamie handed Dotty the gift. She opened it and found a beautiful wool scarf.

"This is beautiful, Amanda. Thank you."

"I'm sorry, Mother, but it's not from me." Amanda thoughtfully smiled to herself. The scarf tipped her off.

"Santa brought them," Jamie exclaimed.

Dotty seemed very rattled as she walked over and whispered in Amanda's ear. "This is very odd, Amanda. It's like some stranger came in and left them in the wrong house."

"Maybe not a stranger, after all, Mother."

Dotty studied her curiously as her daughter quickly changed the subject.

"Okay, who wants hot chocolate with lots of marshmallows?" Amanda announced.

The boys cheered, "We do!"

Dotty continued to sit, staring at the presents deep in thought.

Amanda went into the kitchen and put the kettle on the stove. She noticed some movement outside and went out the back door.

"Lee, are you out here?" she whispered.

"Yeah, over here," came a voice from the bushes.

Amanda made her way to the backyard and came face to face with Lee.

"Merry Christmas, Lee."

"Same to you." He smiled.

Amanda nodded her head towards the house. "Were those gifts from you? How did you get in?"

"I picked the lock. You definitely need better ones. The presents? They're sort of from me. The manager from Macy's® was very thankful there weren't any fatalities, and he let me pick out some things in the store."

"Thank you, Lee."

Lee acted a little sheepish. "No, thank you for helping me yesterday. I… uh, well, you know I appreciate it. You were a big help."

"Thanks, you can always count on me."

"I realize that. Oh, and this is directly from Santa."

Lee handed Amanda a candy cane. He smiled widely showing off his dimples and giving her a wink.

"Amanda, where did you go?" called Dotty.

Lee ran off when he heard Dotty's voice. Amanda turned around and waved the candy cane in the air. "Just talking with Santa, Mother!"

THE END